Laser diodes represent an example of an electronic component that can be driven with such a driver circuit of the above-mentioned general type. A driver circuit of this type for driving laser diodes is known from the European Patent Publication EP 0,810,700 A2.
Semiconductor lasers based on laser diodes are used, for example, for recording or writing data into storage media such as CDs and DVDs. Such writing of data takes place at a high speed and thus requires the laser device to provide optical light pulses with precisely defined on and off times and time durations, as well as a precise power. For achieving this precisely defined optical output power of the light, it is therefore necessary to use activating or control circuits that provide current pulses having a defined magnitude and a precise time behavior.
In the generation of such current pulses, there is the general problem that transient oscillations or so-called ringing processes arise when controlledly switching the driver voltage and/or the driver current from a first level to a second level. These transient oscillations or ringing processes are undesirable and have undesirable consequences. The magnitude of the deviations from the ideal voltage or current curve that arise in connection with the ringing processes depend on the quality of the oscillating or resonant circuit that is being excited. In the above mentioned European Patent Publication EP 0,810,700 A2, the quality of the oscillating circuit is reduced by the parallel circuit connection of R-C components. This approach is problematic, however, because it sharply reduces the rise rate and/or the fall-off rate of the current. A further disadvantage is that the unavoidable housing and bond capacitances nonetheless remain effective and thus reduce the efficacy of the suggested measures for reducing the oscillating circuit quality. Moreover, actually carrying out the proposed measures requires a considerable chip surface area when fabricating the driver circuit as an integrated circuit.